At Drew Estate, we believe that great brand marks never die.
They are reborn when the conditions are perfect and the timing is right.
La Vieja Habana was Drew Estate’s first brand, originally made by Antonio Almanzar in New York City on 6th Avenue and 30th Street from 1994 until 1996. 1996 was the height of the cigar boom and farmers throughout Central America suddenly became stressed out businessman, leaving roller Antonio, my first mentor, sitting in Manhattan with no tobacco. I remember personally inspecting each bale as they arrived and feeling so down, not because we couldn’t get our money back on the tobacco, but because we couldn’t move forward with the brand. Ultimately, we had no choice other than to let LVH rest.
In 1996 we moved our production of La Vieja Habana to Miami based Nicks Cigar Company. During this time, Rick Ardito (Who is now Vice President of Sales), and I traveled the United States and got to know many retailers. I was extra-fortunate because I spent months-on-end at Nick’s Miami factory, again, as an apprentice. Although pricey, La Vieja Habana received surprisingly high results and acceptance without a dollar in advertising or marketing. Production of LVH remained with Nick, receiving big ratings in every national cigar publication, as well as some of the smaller, regional cigar journals. By November, 1998, all of the hard work was finally paying off. Then disaster struck, as Hurricane Mitch ravished Nicaragua. For the second time in 4 years, were forced to stop production of
La Vieja Habana.
2002 brings us to our fourth year of manufacturing cigars in our own factory in Esteli, Nicaragua; our second year of farming; and our third nationwide launch of La Vieja Habana. We believe that our company has always had a fresh approach to manufacturing and marketing one of the world’s most traditional luxuries, cigars. La Vieja Habana, because of its role in our company’s development, is especially important to us. We had ample time to select and age genuine Corojo wrapper, as well as purchase award-winning tobacco that would eventually turn out to exceed our expectations. If there has ever been a company that believes in the magic of “Small Batch Production,” this is it.